Report: Titanfall Will Include Snipers, But No Quick-Scoping

There has been a lot of praise heaped on Respawn Entertainment from those who have had a chance to play the studio’s first title, Titanfall. In the comment sections and social media channels though, there is some skepticism that the title won’t just be Call of Duty with mechs. After all, many of the individuals at Respawn departed Call of Duty’s original studio, Infinity Ward, with Vince Zampella and Jason West.

A member of the Respawn team has offered up some thoughts about how sniping will work in 2014 title. “Sniping is in the game, but due to how the game plays it's a pretty different animal than you'll find in your run of the mill modern military shooter,” a Respawn staff member named “scriptacus” wrote in the company’s forums. “Quick scoping and no scoping are ineffective.”

“No scoping” is the act of shooting a scoped rifle from the hip in hopes that power will compensate for a slower rate of fire. “Quick scoping” is using a game’s assist when aiming down the sites to snap to an enemy for a quick kill. Both are terms that have been popularized by Call of Duty on consoles, where auto-aim and aim assist are used to compensate for the lower precision of controllers versus mouse-and-keyboard.

We’ve reached out to Respawn Entertainment for any additional information they might be willing to share now. Titanfall is due out on March 11, 2014, for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. You can read our hands-on preview from Gamescom and catch up with our coverage in the July 2013 issue.

Update: Shortly after posting this, we received word back from Respawn. "We'll have more information to share in the new year," a Respawn Representative told Game Informer.

Our TakeI’ve played Titanfall a few times now, and as often as I assure readers that it feels fresh and exciting, there is skepticism. Hopefully as we enter 2014 and grow closer to the release date, naysayers will get more information and have a chance to make a decision with hands-on gameplay.